Olympus Stylus 600 Digital Camera Announced

Olympus, following Canon’s lead, has announced a plethora of new cameras today. The Olympus Stylus 600 continues the line’s weather-proof design with a 6 megapixel sensor and a 2.5 inch LCD. For those wanting to use this as an underwater digital camera, Olympus has an underwater housing all ready to go. The Stylus 600 features Olympus’ Bright Capture Technology and an ISO sensitivity up to 1600 to capture those low-light images. The Stylus 600 will be available in September at an estimated street price of $299.

Melville, New York, August 29, 2005 — Defined by all-weather durability and stylish ergonomic design, the Olympus Stylus series of digital cameras are among the most popular point-and-shoot cameras in history. The new Stylus 600 continues this tradition, adding advanced performance and enhanced usability with the new Bright Capture Technology for improved low light photography and the inclusion of a premium size 2.5-inch LCD, as well as the TruePic TURBO Image Processor for high image quality and fast response time, 26 shooting modes for versatility, a built-in Help Guide for on-the-fly instruction, and a 6.0-megapixel image sensor for high-resolution large format prints.

“Over the years, Stylus cameras have come to enjoy a legacy as the best selling point-and-shoot camera in history,” said Tomoko Matsunaga, product manager, Olympus Imaging America Inc. “The Stylus 600 continues the Stylus tradition of all-weather durability and stylish compact design, adding new features for added performance and enhanced usability.”

All-Weather Durability Typically water and photography are a bad combination, limiting your outdoor photography options when rain, snow or sea are involved. But the compact, all-weather Stylus 600 can go virtually anywhere you can. The body construction is durable and lightweight with rubber gaskets throughout the interior to ensure that rain, sleet, snow won’t get in the way of great photos.

Bright Capture Technology for Low-Light Photography There are times when you want to photograph subjects in low light without having to use a flash — such as when trying to capture the softness and warmth of a candlelit dinner, or natural skin tones in subdued lighting. Olympus’ new Bright Capture Technology makes it possible to clearly compose subjects on the LCD, and with high sensitivity options (up to ISO 1600) and an enhanced auto-focus, even action photos can be captured in low levels of ambient light.

2.5-Inch Premium Size LCD With the large 2.5-inch LCD, the Stylus 600 is a veritable walking photo album! The large LCD makes it easier to see clear images when composing shots, which you can then gather your friends around to review in vivid detail without having to download to a computer.

High Quality Olympus Lens Elements Olympus photos are known worldwide for sharp, vibrant image quality. This is achieved through a number of key technologies, such as Olympus’ new high-refractive-index aspherical lens elements, designed specifically for digital cameras. The lens provides the equivalent of 35 to 105 mm focal length, f 3.1 — f 5.2 in 35mm photography, with 15x combined total zoom (3x optical and 5x digital) to bring the action closer, and a Super Macro Mode that captures details as nuanced as the iridescent petals of a flower, from as close as 2.8 inches.

Style and Ergonomics The Stylus 600 is defined by high-performance, durability and style. In addition to the all-weather construction that made the Stylus famous, the Stylus 600 features clean lines and smooth, rounded edges that make it comfortable to hold and easy to handle. At a compact size of 3.8″ (W) x 2.2″ (H) x 1.0″ (D) the camera fits snugly into a pocket and won’t crowd a backpack. The stainless steel lens barrier tucks away inside the camera body with a snap when powered on, and protects the lens with an impenetrable seal when closed.

TruePic TURBO for High-Speed Response Olympus’ exclusive TruePic TURBO Image Processor enhances image quality and delivers faster overall processing speeds for rapid startup, shutter release and playback. TruePic TURBO TM enables the Stylus 600 to capture information from all 6.0 million pixels with pixel “micro-smoothing” that delivers clearer and more color-accurate photos, even at lower resolutions. The fast startup of less than one second and nearly instant shutter release time ensures a high-speed response so you are always ready to take great pictures.

26 Selectable Shooting Modes The Stylus 600 makes it easy to capture great images in a variety of lighting situations with 24 pre-programmed scene modes, such as Night Scene, Indoor Portrait or Cuisine Mode. And with its QuickTime Movie Mode, the Stylus 600 can record movies of any length, limited only by the size of the internal memory or xD-Picture C ard in the camera.

Help Guide for Added Ease-of-Use With the new Help Guide function, the Stylus 600 makes every last one of its features accessible, even to novice users. By simply pressing the Guide button on the back of the camera, users can access brief descriptions of each of the camera’s functions and scene modes.

PictBridge Enabled — No Computer Necessary! The power of PictBridge technology enables photos to be printed directly from the Stylus 600 to any PictBridge-enabled printer without using a computer. And the new one-touch printing button makes printing a single-step process. Printing and sharing images has never been easier!

In-camera Editing With in-camera editing features such as Red-Eye Fix, image composition with the option to add a built-in frame or text, and color brightness or saturation adjustments, users can edit photos on the fly — no longer do you have to tool around with computers and editing software for simple image touch-ups!

Underwater Photography The new PT-029 underwater housing is created specially for the Stylus 600 — so you can take your camera with you on your underwater excursions. The large 2.5-inch LCD, compact body size and three underwater scene modes make it the perfect camera to take along diving. And with the new Bright Capture Technology you’ll be able to easily preview images on the LCD even in the darkness of under water.

Easy USB Auto-ConnectConnecting the Stylus 600 to a computer is easy with the USB Auto-Connect feature, which connects directly via USB 2.0 cable and requires no software.

OLYMPUS Master Software OLYMPUS Master software provides the ultimate in digital imaging management. An intuitive user interface makes downloading to your computer quick and simple, and images are searchable by date or keyword in the Calendar View. And with one-click editing tools, such as red-eye reduction, images can be touched up before printing or emailing. Online support, templates, firmware upgrades and other user services are just a mouse-click away.